Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Slowing Down



Ashaye Williams is 10 years old and she stopped me in my tracks.

She is HOLD the Children un-sponsored child number 21. I took this picture of Ashaye the first week of January at Victory Christian Fellowship School, one of Mission Discovery’s HOLD the Children pre-schools. For those of you who may not know, Mission Discovery has a child sponsorship ministry in Jamaica and Haiti that allow over 350 children to receive a school uniform, a hot meal daily and of course an education.

When Ashaye’s teacher brought her in for her picture Mrs. Brown said, “She is 21.” To which I responded, “Ok.” To which Ashaye responded, “I’m not 21….I’m 10.”

I looked at Mrs. Brown, we smiled at each other, I put down the camera, sat in the floor and introduced myself to Ashaye. What followed was a conversation about how much she liked school, her favorite subjects, how pretty she looked today for her picture and how cool it was to be 10. I remember becoming 10. It was the first year in my life where there were two numbers to describe my age…a 1 and zero. It was somewhat of a big deal, and it sounded to me that Ashaye felt the same.

Rich Rohde, the Director of HOLD the Children, knows every child and his or her story. I was just to be a photographer that day, but was stopped by 10 year old and reminded that everyone has a story. It was a pleasure to get to know Ashaye. The encounter reminded me that over 350 children in our program have sponsors who know them deeply, how to pray for them and their families.

I’m now looking for the next long encounter….the next great story!